1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage nonlinear resistor ceramic preferably employed in the likes of a voltage nonlinear resistor layer of a laminated chip varistor, for example, and also relates to an electronic component in which the voltage nonlinear resistor ceramic is employed as a voltage nonlinear resistor layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A varistor as one example of an electronic component having a voltage nonlinear resistor layer is used to protect IC circuits of electronic devices and so on by absorbing or removing an external surge (abnormal voltage), such as static electricity, or noise, for example.
In recent years, the speeding up of digital signals and transmission has been increasingly advancing, and also smaller and thinner chip components have become required in order to increase the integration degree of electronic components. In order to achieve a smaller and thinner varistor, the interlayer thickness needs to be reduced.
However, in a conventional voltage nonlinear resistor ceramic, there has been a problem that when the interlayer thickness is reduced, it becomes difficult to obtain good varistor characteristics.
To counter the above problem, the voltage nonlinear resistor ceramic shown in the following Patent Document 1 has been proposed. The voltage nonlinear resistor ceramic shown in Patent Document 1 solves the above problem particularly by including a specific amount of an R (rare earth element) oxide and barium titanate.
However, the voltage nonlinear resistor ceramic and electronic component described in Patent Document 1 lack moisture resistance when employed in a component where high moisture resistance is required, such as an in-vehicle component.    Patent Document 1: JP 2014-133693 A